Burton MP Andrew Griffiths has released a deeply personal and detailed statement to the Burton Mail after revealing he spent a month in a psychiatric hospital suffering from a breakdown and thought about suicide after he was exposed for sending a series of sex texts to two barmaids.

The revelations led to an outcry locally and nationally for him to resign. There were marches in his Burton constituency calling on him to go.

At the time he apologised for his actions but said he wanted to stay on as MP. He did however resign as small business minister ahead of the story about the Tory MP's sex texting breaking.

In the messages he referred to himself as 'daddy', encouraged the barmaids to beat each other, offered money for sexually explicit pictures and described sex he claimed to have had with other women.

The MP, aged 48, who is married and has a baby daughter, spoke at the weekend saying he had been abused and had spent 31 days in a psychiatric hospital after the story broke in July.

Today he has spoken in detail to the Burton Mail. He has revealed:

How he was abused as a young boy by a teenager.

Has had a long standing battle with mental health.

How the deaths of his older parents deeply affected him.

Had it all when he was appointed to his dream job as Small Business Minister, but at the same time his 'mind was at breaking point'.

Yearning for a child for many years caused 'depression'.

Then after his baby was born in April, he worried about the impact on his daughter of having an older parent - he was 47 at the time - mirroring his own upbringing.

How he contemplated suicide when the revelations made national headlines

And how his life was saved when he thought about the impact taking his own life would have on his daughter and a Tory colleague stepping in and getting him into hospital.

Here is what Mr Griffiths has to say in his own words:

"It was after three weeks of a 31 day stay in a mental health hospital that the enormity of my fall from grace and public shaming finally began to seep in through the medication.

"I had been exposed by a newspaper for sending 2,000 sexually explicit texts to two women over 21 days.

"The texts resulted in my resignation from my dream job as a minister, the destruction of a hard earned reputation earned over 30 years of public service, and most painful of all, the public humiliation of a wife and family I love dearly.

"But it was an exposé, that may have saved my life.

"Some months later, only now do I feel well enough to publicly talk about the events which led to me being admitted to hospital on the verge of suicide.

Andrew Griffiths and Imogen Treharne (Image: Sunday Mirror)

"I feel I owe it to my constituents and all those people who have put their faith in me to explain the reason for such shocking actions.

"And while the the truth is that the texts were wrong and the result of my mental breakdown, my battle with my own mental health has been ongoing for decades.

"The pressures that triggered my breakdown were undoubtedly recent, but the roots of much of my longstanding battle with mental health were established long ago in my childhood.

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"I was the youngest of five, with much older siblings who themselves had children older than me, and with parents who loved and cared for me greatly.

"However, until my collapse, I had never admitted to anyone the reality of my early years. In treatment, I confided aloud for the first time in my life that as a child I was abused by an older boy on a number of occasions.

"He would invite me to play in the garage of his home and abuse me.

"This was the 1970s and children weren't taught about stranger danger. In fact he wasn't a stranger.

"My mum and dad were born in 1922 and 1925, and dad fought in the Second World War.

"Sex was not something to be discussed and certainly not with a young boy.

"My prize for the first abuse was a used Liverpool FC Subbuteo football team – I was mad about the game and the older boy had two sets of the Liverpool team.

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"On returning home after it happened my mother quizzed me at length, not about the abuse, but about why I suddenly had a Subbuteo team she hadn't bought.

"The following day, mum went and spoke to the boy's mother to double check my story. She was determined to reassure herself that I hadn't taken something I shouldn't.

"How then could I admit something I thought wrong, and scary and bound to get me into trouble? And the abuse didn't stop at once. Subsequent times would always elicit another Subbuteo gift – new balls with black flashes, an action goalkeeper, some crowd figures.

"I told mum I didn't like Subbuteo any more. I played on my own in the back garden instead.

"Being born to older parents was significant. My father was 48 when I was born and my mother 45.

"Dad had his first heart attack when I was seven. I remember mom standing on the doorstep at lunchtime chatting to the neighbour when the phone call came to tell her dad had been rushed to hospital.

"I was happier than I had ever been in my life. A dream job, a loving wife, a new born baby that we had both yearned for, and a future that looked perfect.

"Yet at the same time, my mind was at breaking point. In January I was appointed the Minister for Small Business, a job I had always wished for. I threw myself into it heart and soul.

"The hours and the pressure were relentless but I told everyone I thrived on it. Days would be packed with back to back meetings, speeches and appearances at the Dispatch Box to answer urgent questions.

"This was the life! I would often be up at 5am to prep for the day to come. I spent my eight years as an MP living in a hotel opposite Parliament when in London during the week.

"After the pressures of the day, I would return alone to a soulless room without natural light.

"Monday to Thursday was spent alone in London. Weekends would involve a regular schedule of surgery and constituency appointments. It was not unusual to undertake seven or eight events.

"Then there would be the knock on the door from the driver delivering my ministerial red box. A weekend ritual of correspondence, ministerial briefings and submissions that could take hours to complete and had to be collected the next day.

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"I wasn't in my right mind. The psychiatrist who assessed me writes that I had become "dysfunctional and mentally unstable prior to the onset of the crisis leading to the texting", adding, "the huge volume of the text messages over such a short period of time indicated the compulsive nature of his actions and this together with the fanciful nature of the text messages amply demonstrated his temporarily disturbed mental state".

"Another psychiatrist that treated me wrote I had "become dysfunctional prior to the crisis".

"For me, anxiety felt like my head was ablaze and nobody could see the flames. The work, and the constant demands on my time actually helped – they distracted me from my anxiety and dimmed the flames.

"Yet once the work stopped, the flames would burst back into life. And that is where the texts came in – a sprinkler system; a coping mechanism of a virtual and imaginary world.

"My disturbed mind blocking out my worries and fears by filling every spare moment, releasing me from thinking. The more chaotic my collapse became, the more compulsive my messaging.

"Every moment had to be filled. A business contact I had known and worked with for years called my secretary to ask if I was "on coke" so odd did he think my behaviour had become.

An ex-cabinet member described me as "manic". It felt as though I was in a slow motion fall – the ground crumbling beneath me but no matter how I tried I couldn't find my footing.

"My breakdown was only turbo-charged by my subsequent exposure in the press. As my mental state got worse, I was needed to vote to support the Government.

Andrew Griffiths is hoping to be able to continue as Burton's MP (Image: Burton Mail)

"But as I sat in an office hidden away from the press and prying eyes, I concluded that my only option was to end my life.

"Only that way could I end the pain and humiliation I had bought on my family. My mind turned more and more to ending my life. I began to focus on how to do it.

"I had read that if a tube driver has someone jump in front of their train on two occasions they are pensioned off on full pay for life. The thought eased my conscience of the impact on someone having to find me.

"Two things saved my life. The first, the thought of what suicide would do to my little daughter. I couldn't bear the thought of her growing up with the pain it would cause.

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"My recovery has been tough. But I now feel strong enough to tell my story and return to work. I will never be the same of course. To go through this has changed my life forever.

"I always thought that if I denied my abuse words, I denied it a reality. I now realise that talking about it, and understanding the impact it has had on me throughout my life is key to making sure that I am a child abuse survivor, not a child abuse victim.

"Sending those texts was wrong, but my even greater mistake was to not spot the signs of my mental health crisis, to not ask for help, to try to "man up" instead of admitting I was suffering.

"In doing so my collapse brought shame and misery to myself and my family. Parliament has since announced a new hotline, to help MPs and their families who suffer mental health problems.

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"Would I have been aware enough to call the number? Who knows. But it has the potential to prevent others from going through what I have.

"I hope that my constituents and the public will understand my collapse and the causes that contributed to it.

"I hope they will understand the impact mental health can have, and allow me to rebuild my life and return to a job I love. Parliament's doctor has confirmed that I am well enough to return to Parliament and to supporting my constituents.

"In eight years as an MP I believe I have helped many. This experience and my own experience of mental health is something I hope to use for good.

"And my hope, above all else, is to be allowed to continue my work, and to make my wife and daughter proud of me again."

If you need help...

Samaritans (116 123) samaritans.org operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you're feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org , write to Freepost RSRB-KKBY-CYJK, PO Box 9090, STIRLING, FK8 2SA and visit www.samaritans.org/branches to find your nearest branch.

CALM (0800 58 58 58) thecalmzone.net has a helpline is for men who are down or have hit a wall for any reason, who need to talk or find information and support. They're open 5pm to midnight, 365 days a year.

Childline (0800 1111 ) runs a helpline for children and young people in the UK. Calls are free and the number won’t show up on your phone bill.

PAPYRUS (0800 068 41 41) is a voluntary organisation supporting teenagers and young adults who are feeling suicidal.

Depression Alliance is a charity for people with depression. It doesn’t have a helpline, but offers a wide range of useful resources and links to other relevant information depressionalliance.org

Students Against Depression is a website for students who are depressed, have a low mood or are having suicidal thoughts. Bullying UK is a website for both children and adults affected by bullying studentsagainstdepression.org

The Sanctuary (0300 003 7029 ) helps people who are struggling to cope - experiencing depression, anxiety, panic attacks or in crisis. You can call them between 8pm and 6am every night. There are other depression charities.

Bullying UK is a website for both children and adults affected by bullying. www.Bullying.co.uk

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